Feed mechanism for ice-shaving machines.



W. MAECHLER. FEED MECHANISM FOR ICE SHAVING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 8, l9l7.

' Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

3 SHEET$SHEET I.

' ayeax W. MAECHLER, FEED MECHANISM FOR ICE SHAVING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.8. 19!?- m m i mwz IT EE. 8 H MA TUB H MW H 2 6 3 t w W. MAECHLER. I FEED MECHANISM FOR ICE SHAVING MAcHmEs.

APPLICATION FILED IAN.8. I9.

Imam Jan. 8, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 WALTER attendance, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FEED MECHANISM FOR ICE-SHAVING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 8, 1918.

Application filed January 8, 1917. Serial Nb. 141,262.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER MAEorILnR, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Ilinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Mechanism for Ice-Shaving Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for shaving ice to so finely divide the same as to produce what is substantially snow. The latter is adapted to be mixed with fruit syrups to produce so-called fruit snow.

The particular object of the present invention is to provide a machine of this character in which ice to be shaved is positively fed to be held firmly in position relatively to shaving knives and cutters so as to produce the snow with the utmost rapidity and efficiency, and in which, upon exhaust or consumption of a lump of ice, the feeding mechanism will automatically reverse until. it attains a position permitting the insertion or introduction of a fresh lump of ice to be shaved without interrupting the operation of the motor actuating said mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide feeding mechanism for machines of the character defined which may be readily adjusted to feed the ice to be shaved to the cutters at varying speeds, and in which the rapidity of the reverse movement of the feeding means may be similarly adjusted and controlled.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pair of coacting cutters which are adapted to shave the ice to uniform degree of fineness at the least expense of power.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combination of parts here inafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a suitable embodiment of the invention:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of an ice shaving machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. -2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan section of the same on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2-.

Fig. is a fragmentary plan section of the same on the line H of Fig. 2.

Fig. '5 is a side elevation of one of the shaving knives.

The machine comprises a housing 1 constituting the base of the machine and adapted to contain a suitable motor such as an electric motor 2, indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The top wall of the housing 1 is provided with a central bearing 3 for the shaft at of the motor which passes upwardly and through a bearing in the top plate of the machine frame.

The top wall of the housing 1 constitutes a support for the cylindrical receptacle 5 provided with a radial slot 6 in which the said shaft at is adapted to be received.

The shaft 4: is equipped between its ends with a .disk 7 which is rigid therewith, and isprovi'ded with radial slots 8 in which the knives 9 and 10 are rigidly mounted; the cutting edges of said knives projecting slightly above the plain upper face of said disk 7 One of said knives is provided with a serrated edge and the other thereof with a straight edge. In the instance illustrated I have shown the disk 7 equipped with only two of said knives; it being obvious, of course, that this number may be increased, if desired, it being essential, however, that during rotation of the disk the knives having serrated and straight edges respectively, should alternate with each other in acting upon the ice.

Disposed above the disk 7 and to one side of the longitudinal aXis of the machine frame, which is coincident with the axis of the shaft 4, is a housing 11 having a lower chamber 12 adapted to receive ice which is adapted to be inserted through the door 13, shown in Fig. 4. The upper chamber of the housing 11 is provided in its peripheral wall with a. longitudinal slot 14- through whicha projection 15 on a reciprocable head 16 projects. The latter is connected by means of two vertical posts 17 with a plunger 18 reciprocably movable in the chamber 'arcuate stroke of said lever.

12', and which is adapted tobear upon the lump or lumps of ice contained in the latter which rest upon the surface of the disk 7. The upper wall of the chamber 11 of the housing contains a bearing 19 in which a smooth portion 20 of a screw-shaft 21 is journaled, said smooth portion 20 being of smaller diameter than the threaded portion 21 and presenting a shoulder to the lower end of the bearing 19 for preventing vertical movement of said shaft relatively to the bearing in one direction. Above said bearing 19 said screw-shaft carries a ratchet wheel 22 and a ratchet wheel 23, theteeth of the latter being disposed oppositely from the teeth of the former. Both said ratchets are non-rotatable relatively to the shaft 21 and are adapted to be actuated alternately to'reverse the direction of rotation of the latter. The head'16 is threaded on said shaft 21 and is reciprocated as the latter is alternately reversed.

Loosely mounted on the smooth portion 20 of said shaft between the ratchets 22 and 23 is a rocking member or carriage 2 1 which is connected by means of theeccentric strap 25' and pitman 26 with the eccentric 27 rigidly mounted upon the upper end of the motor shaft 1. The said rocking member 2% is provided with a slot 28 extending radially of its axis of oscillation for varying the distance of the connection of t-hepin 29 of the eccentric rod 26 from the axis of rotation of said rocking member 2%, for varying the arc of oscillation of the latter.

Pivotally mounted upon said member 2 1 is a dog or pawl 30 adapted to engage the ratchet 23 for rotating the shaft 21 in a direction to move the head 16 downwardly. The said pawl 30 constitutes one end of a lever, the other end portion 31 of which constitutes what may be termed a stepped cam which is adapted to engage a member 32 for throwing said pawl 30 out of engagement with the ratchet at any desired pointin the That portion of said pawl extending from the pivot thereof to the step 33 therein is concentric with the axis of oscillation of said member 2% and is adapted, during the time that it contacts with said member to maintain the pawl 30 in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet 23. The step 33 when engaging the said member 32 serves to throw the pawl 30 out of engagement with the ratchet 23, and the tail portion 31 of said lever is adapted to hold the pawl in the position to which it is moved by the coaction of the step 33 with the member 32 during the balance of the movement of said pawl in one direction. A spring 3% engaged with said lever holds the pawl end 30 thereof normally in engagement with said ratchet 23, the cam end of the lever actuating the pawl against the action of said spring.

The stop 32 is adjustable through an arc concentric with the axis of oscillation of the member 2 1 and is carriedby a reciprocable member 35 which is pivotally connected at one end. with a lever 36 between the ends of the latter. Said lever 36 is pivotally secured to the top member of the machine frame at one end. At its other end said lever .36 carries a member 37 whichengages a tail portion 38 of a lever terminating at its other end in a pawl 39, and which is pivotally secured between its ends to the member 23. Said pawl 39 is adapted to be held by the spring 40 normally engaged with the ratchet 22 for actuating the shaft 21 in the reverse direction from thatin which it is V actuated by the ratchet 23 and its paw1.

The said tail portion 38 of said lever is arcuate and concentric, in one position, with the axis of oscillation of the member 23 when engaged by the member 37 in the position .of j,

the lever 36, shown in Fig. 1. v r V The member 35 is reciprocable in a direction transversely of the axis of oscillation of the member 23, and is adapted to be moved to either one of two positions, one of these being shown in full lines in Fig. 1-., and the other being adapted to throw themember 37 of the lever 36 farther outwardly from the axis ofoscillation of the member 23 so as to permit the pawl 39 to engage the ratchet 22. This movement or position of the member 35 obviously throws the member 32 farther toward the axis of oscillation of the member 23, thereby throwing the pawl 30 out of engagement with the ratchet 23,

and holding it out of such engagement dur- I ing the oscillation of said member; thus causing the shaft 21 to be rotated in the opposlte direction from that in which it is rotatedwhen the pawl 30 is in the position shown in Fig. 1. Said member 35 is provided with a projection or stem 11 pivotally connected with the upper end of a lever 42 which is pivotally mounted between its ends on a bracket 43 extending inwardly from the peripheral wall'of the housing of i opposed beveled faces which are adapted to,

be engaged by the anti-friction roller 2L8 carried by the head 16. v to 7 As the head 16 moves downwardly and approaches the lower limit of its movement the anti-friction roller engages the beveled face of the projection 46, and moves the same out of its path a distance suflicient to turn the lever 42 through an arc greater than one-half its total movement. It will be noted that in the position shown in Fig. 2 the axis of the spring 45 is inclined to the axis of the lever 42, so that in throwing the latter through an are greater than onehalf its total movement the position of the axis of the spring 45 relatively to that of the lever 42 will be changed so that said spring will then throw the lever over through the balance of its arc of movement, whereby the position of the members 32 and 37 will be changed to effect reversal of rotation of the shaft 21.

During the downward movement of the head 18 the ice disposed below the same will be forcibly moved down upon the face of the disk 7 and during this time said disk will be rotating at relatively high speed. The serrated edge of the knife 9 will cut V- shaped grooves into the lower face of the lump of ice, and leave V-shaped ribs bordering said grooves. The knife 10 having a straight edge will cut away these V-shaped ribs so that the action of the knives is to alternately out such grooves, and then smooth the lower face of the lump. The very finely divided ice thus cut passes downwardly through the slots 8 in the disk 7 into the receptacle 5 while some of such ice will be thrown by centrifugal force against the surrounding wall of the chamber and will drop by gravity into said pan or receptacle 5 which is preferably of larger diameter than the portion of the chamber containing said disk 7. In order that none of the ice thus shaved may be lost by dropping through the radial slot in said receptacle 5 the portion of the chamber immediately below the disk 7, and above the receptacle 5, is provided with a radially inwardly projecting inverted V-shaped arm 46 which is adapted to cover the longitudinal slot in the receptacle 5 to cause ice dropping upon said projection to drop into the receptacle upon opposite sides of the slot therein.

In operation the pawl engaging the ratchet 23 will, during each complete oscillatory movement of the member 24, move said ratchet through an are equal to the arcuate length of one or more of its teeth as desired, depending upon the position of the member 32 and the point in the arcuate stroke of the lever at which the step 83 therein engages said member 32. Thus the downward movement of the plunger-head 18 1. may be very slow.

However, when reversing the rotation of the shaft 21 it is desirable that the head 18 may be raised very quickly to the upper limit of its movement so as to lose as little time as possible in inserting a fresh lump of ice to be shaved. Accordingly, it will be seen that when the pawl 37 is engaged with the ratchet 22 it will remain in engagement with the same throughout the entire stroke of the "member 24 in one direction, thus rotating the shaft 21 through an arc substantially coincident with the arc of oscillation of the member 24.

It will be obvious, of course, that a number of ice-chambers and feeding mechanisms may be employed surrounding the shaft of the motor, all of the feeding mechanisms thereof being simultaneously actuated from the single eccentric on the motor shaft, and that the various feed mchanisms may be arranged so that the plungers thereof reach the lower limits of their movement at re spectively difierent intervals so that the production of the finely shaved ice or snow may be continuous. This will be readily comprehended by persons skilled in the art without special illustration and description.

WVhile I have shown a suitable embodiment of the invention in the accompanying drawings, I am aware that the latter is capable of considerable modification and improvement in its mechanical details. I have aimed here only to show and describe an exemplary operative structure, but contemplate effecting considerable changes and variations in the construction thereof to render the same durable and efiicient to perform its functions; such changes involving only the exercise of mechanical skill, and being included in the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a machine of the kind specified, a central shaft for carrying a cutting member, a screw-shaft parallel with said central shaft, a plunger engaged with said screwshaft and reciprocated thereby, a pair of oppositely disposed ratchet wheels on said screw-shaft, a rocking carriage pivotally mounted on said screw-shaft, an eccentric on the central shaft connected with said carriage for rocking the latter, a pair of pawls on said carriage for actuating said respective ratchets, and means for automatically throwing one of said pawls into engaging relation to one of said ratchets as the other of said pawls is thrown out of engaging relation to its ratchet.

2. In a machine of the kind specified, mechanism for imparting longitudinal movement to a plunger in respectively opposite directions at different speeds comprising a screw-shaft, a pair of oppositely disposed ratchets rigid therewith, a rocking carriage pivotally mounted on said shaft, a driveshaft, an eccentric thereon connected with said rocking member, a pawl for each of said ratchets pivotally mounted on said rocking carriage, means on said carriage for mainname in presence of two subscribing rvittaining one of said pawls idle While the fnesses. other thereof is active and devices associated with said .pawls and said means for WALTER MAECHLER' varying the active arc of movement of each Witnesses:

of said pawls. M. M. BOYLE,

In testimony whereof I have signed my C. L. BALDWIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained-for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.- 

